”Final' YMCA expansion plans reviewed

The plans were outlined by Y officials in an informal work session. Although an application was filed on Nov. 7, it was deemed incomplete due to missing environmental information.

Public hearings are likely to begin early next year. The Y, which has a 22.5-acre tract, plans to expand its facility from about 40,000 square feet to 96,000 square feet while increasing the number of parking stalls from 220 to 447.

There would be expansions of the wellness center, the locker rooms and the day c are center, plus a new teen center, a second swimming pool and a new or expanded gymnasium. Most of the new space would be in the rear toward Interstate Route 2 87.

Board members, noting that the facility has already undergone two major expansions, asked if this expansion would be the last.

"This is it," replied YMCA President Robert Lomauro.

The project would address a dramatic growth in membership and a waiting list for programs. With Phase I expected to cost $6 million, the Y has raised $4.6 million so far, Lomauro said.

Phase I would include four new locker rooms, a doubling in size of the wellness center, an extra classroom for the Millicent Fenwick Day Care Center and a teen center underneath the locker rooms. Much of the new space would be in the rear.

Wellness Center

The wellness center improvements would feature a partnership with Morristown Memorial Hospital which would offer services like physical rehabilitation and cardiac care, Lomauro said.

The Y has also leased 9,000 square feet for a satellite wellness center at the R iverwalk Village under construction on Martinsville Road, he told the board.

The day care center, in gaining a classroom, would get an additional 12 slots, Lomauro said. The teen center, he said, would allow the Y to expand its existing after-school program from about 60 youths to about 100.

Phase II calls for a second pool that would extend to the south toward an office complex. That would cost $3.5 million and while the funds haven't been raised, Michael Osterman, attorney for the Y, said the intent is to possibly borrow the money and build the pool "on the heels of Phase I."

The heated pool would be for leisure and recreation, with four lap lanes, Lomauro said.

Phase III would consist of either an expansion of the existing gymnasium or a new gymnasium but it hasn't been fully designed, said Osterman. Lomauro said that cost is estimated at $1 million to $1.5 million.

The Y will seek final approval for Phases I and II but only preliminary approval for Phase III, Osterman noted.

In terms of parking, the number of parking stalls would increase from 220 now to 355 in Phase I, 419 in Phase II and 447 in Phase III, said project engineer Ron Kennedy. There would also be a second access to Mount Airy Road so traffic could flow one-way in and out, he said.

The Y, which opened its Mount Airy facility on a 16.5-acre tract in May 1973, later added a five-acre tract with a house to the north and a one-acre tract with a house to the south. Y officials have said they plan to leave the land to the north as a buffer along Berkeley Circle.

Osterman said Y officials have had "very good meetings" with the homeowners on Mount Airy Road, Berkeley Circle and Stacey Lane and have resolved a number of concerns about the plans.

After the last major expansion in 1996, the Y's membership more than doubled, from less than 4,500 to 11,500 now. But Lomauro said the final expansion should no t increase membership beyond a range of 15,000 to 18,000.

The current membership, he said, includes 53 percent from the township, 16 percent from Bernardsville, 14 percent from Far Hills, Bedminster Township and Peapack-Gladstone, 7 percent from Warren Township and Watchung, 5 percent from Long Hill Township and 5 percent from Califon and Mendham.

Outreach Efforts

Lomauro stressed that the Y is pursuing programs off-site, citing as examples, a summer camp at the Purnell School in Pottersville, roller hockey at Dunham Park , swimming at the Fellowship Village pool and outreach efforts to local schools, churches and synagogues.

Board Vice Chairman Richard Macksoud asked what the Y will do once the Mount Airy facility is "maxed out." Board member Scott Spitzer then drew laughter by joking, "You go to the AT&T building."

Lomauro said he has talked to people in Warren Township about building a relationship and would listen if they want to build a Y facility there.

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